DA 7 urged metro residents to do urban gardening‘to address insufficient supply of veggies in C. Visayas’
By Fayette C. Ri�en
CEBU CITY, March 6 (PIA) -- Agriculture officials here urged metro residents to do urban gardening and plant vegetables in their backyard or in plain pots to address the insufficient supply of high-value crops in the region.
Jorge Paculba, chief of the crops division of the Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 said the region is only about 56 percent sufficient in vegetables or high-value crops and that most of our supply is imported from other regions.
“A rising population sparking greater demand for vegetables and the existing 89 hotels plus pension houses and 116 restaurants in Cebu make it hard to achieve self-sufficiency in high-value crops,” Paculba declared.
“Last year, our production went down compared to in 2010 especially on eggplants, broccoli and onions,” Paculba declared.
The DA 7 official said that in order to increase our supply of vegetables, we need to do urban gardening so that the vegetable plants we produce in our own homes are just what we consume for our needs.
Paculba cited Cebu which only has three percent of its lands categorized as agricultural. “Cebu’s population is always on the rise while only three percent of its total lands are classified as agricultural lands. Thus, the province depends largely on imports for its veggie needs,” the DA 7 official added.
Under the Agricultural Roadmap in Response to Increasing Demand and Climate Change 2011-2016, the DA 7 aims to increase the vegetable sufficiency level of the region from 56.26 percent in 2011 to 66.32 percent in 2016 by providing production, post-harvest, and processing equipment and facilities.
The DA 7 is also partnering with the Dep Ed in the National Greening Program where vegetable seedlings are given to schools to be planted by students in their school gardens.
Paculba also advised farmers to utilize even sloping lands for vegetable planting known as contour farming.
The High Value Crops Development Program of the DA is one of its priority programs aimed at helping address food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable growth. (PIA-Cebu)
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Reporting illegal drug personalities should not be reward dependent but a citizen’s civic duty, PRO 7 says
By Fayette C. Ri�en
CEBU CITY, March 5 (PIA) -- Though reward money is a big motivator to report to authorities any suspected big-time illegal drug pushers in their area, top police officials however appealed to the public’s sense of civic duty to promote a peaceful community.
“We should not give more focus on the reward money to report any criminal activities particularly on illegal drugs. But it is better to promote every person’s civic obligation to the community especially his contribution in making the community peaceful and safe for everyone including him and his family,” S/Supt. Mariano Natuel Jr., chief of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division (RIDMD) of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 said.
The statement came amid the recent conviction of nine foreigners and two Filipinos that were behind the operation of a secret shabu laboratory in Mandaue City, Cebu that was raided in 2004. The expose’ on the shabu lab was made known to authorities by a tipster, an Iranian national, who was paid P500,000 under the “Operation Private Eye” of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for disclosing the lab’s presence.
Atty. Mauro Licen, legal officer of the PDEA 7 said the ‘Operation Private Eye’ is an ongoing program which grants financial incentives to tipsters who can report any illegal drug operators.
“We give tipsters financial incentive because it is also not easy to report illegal drug operators. The reward money is just to compensate them taking into account their fear of reprisal from the accused,” Lican declared.
The reward money however, depends on the volume and amount of the illegal drugs seized from the operators.
S/Supt. Orlando Ualat, PRO 7 chief of the regional directorial staff on the other hand, said that though he supports the idea of giving reward, “but it should not be the sole basis in reporting illegal drug traders to law authorities.”
Although Ualat admitted the reward system makes the job easier for the police to pinpoint who are involved in illegal drug operations and file appropriate cases against them.
The Cebu Provincial Government meanwhile, has an existing program dubbed ‘Operation Tipster’ Program which allows the giving out of reward money to whistleblowers on any form of big-time criminal activities. (PIA-Cebu)